PETA’s ‘night, Mother

‘night, Mother is an American play created by Marsha Norman that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for best play. It is now being adapted in the Philippines by Ian Lomongo and directed by Melvin Lee and it stars Eugene Domingo as Jessie and Sherry Lara as Thelma

The plot:

A supposedly normal evening in the mother-daughter household is shattered when Jessie announces to her mother Thelma that she plans to kill herself before the night is over. The play happens in real time. Over the course of 90 minutes, Thelma desperately works to convince her daughter that life is worth living.

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During the excerpt performance, Ian Lomongo stated that he tried to stay faithful to the source material and that the Philippine adaption did not intend to accentuate the dark humour but rather it was translated to appeal to the emotional heartstrings of Pinoys to make every bit of the dialogue and drama feel organic. The play provides an opportunity for people to start a discussion regarding mental health issues as well as hard topics like suicide.

Fun Facts

‘night, Mother was supposed to be directed by Mother Soxie Topacio, but after his tragic death, assistant director Melvin Lee took the job since the play was already set to be released in February. Melvin Lee wishes to pay homage to the late director through the play.

This will showcase the breadth of the comedic actress Eugene Domingo in dramatic roles as she will play the daughter of Thelma. Her last performance on theatre was in Bona which won her the Outstanding Female Lead Performance at the 2012 Philstage Gawad Buhay! Awards. She will play as an epileptic who has experienced severe chronic depression that has never been treated. She has lost all hope in life and she plans to kill herself before the night is over.

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This play was actually Eugene Domingo’s thesis while studying in the University of the Philippines. In her thesis, she was Thelma, the widowed mother of Jessie who is trying to convince Jessie that she should see the beauty and joy to be had in more life. The actress remarked that the difficulty of having her personality and body transform was difficult. Now she gets to be part of this play again as the roles are switched. She feels that this is the perfect opportunity for her as her age is right and she has experienced a lot of ups and downs in life.